Means for labeling canned and bottled goods



Oct. 16, 1928.

W. C. HART MEANS FOR LABELING CANNED AND BOTI'LBD GOODS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 21, 1926 Oct. 16, 1928- I w. c. HART BANS FOR LABELING CANNED AND BOTTLE!) G OODS Filed April 21, 1926 s Skate-Sheet t.- ifi, 1928. $688,077

w. c. HART AND BOTTLE!) GOODS MEANS FOR LABELING CANNED 5 Shoots-Shoat 3 v Filed April 21, 192

A/ Q1 n Oct. 16, 1928.

w. c. HART mmms FOR LABELING 0mm) m: BOTTLED aoons FiledApril 21. 1926 5 Shoots-Sheet 4 Oct. 16,1928. 1,688,077

W. C. HART CANNED AND BOTTLE!) GOODS mums FOR LABELING 6 sham-sheet 5 Filed April 21. 1926 Patented Oct. 16, 1928. 1,688,077 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

WILL-TAM CLIFTON HART, OF ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA.

MEANS FOR.-LABELING CANNED AND BOTTLED GOODS. Application filed April 21, 1926, Serial No. 103,623, and in Australia July 22, 1925.

This invention relates to means for formsame has passed from a lacquering machine ing and applying labels, symbols and the for giving the container the necessary body like on containers used for foodstuffs, such colour. i as jams, fruit, meat, fish, milk and the like Figure 3 is a view partly in section illusand for other commercial purposes, whereby rating particularly the holding and release instead of using paper labels as is now genan sm fOr the Container. erally in vogue, I propose printing or trans- Figure 4 is a view showing how the ierring the label or symbol direct on to the prlmary roller may be arranged, with the container body. or the container itself, after means for replenishing the colour pads with 10 being filled with goods and sealed top and ink. bottom, or the container body blank may Figures 5 and 6 are views illustrating the be coloured whilst fiat betoreit is shaped automatic mechanism for feeding, holding to form the can or container body, after first and releasing the containers in the machine. having a suitable ground colour imparted. Figure 7 is a side View showing the lac- 15 The basic principle underlying the invenquerrng machine in combination with the tion therefore consists in the application of ling appara us, and colouring or multicolours to a container so gure 8 Shows an arrangement for obthat labels or symbols are applied directly taining multicolour effects on containers. on to a lacquered or other basic surface of The invention contemplates the use in 20 the container. combination with the labeling apparatus of An essential feature embodied in the inapparatus adapted to give the container a vention consists in the means employed for ating Of lacquer or a body colour of any imparting the colouring or colourings to the sllltflble gulck ying Pillnt upon which the container, said means comprising a series of lilhel 1S imp s dlinders of the same circumference as the This lacquering machine comprises essencontainer, the first cylinder being a colour hOrlZOntal m m A, B, end vertical pad holder or inking roller, the intermediate ers D and intermediate members E, cylinder or cylinders being the distributing rollers and the outer cylinder the label irn- The members A, B are securely held to 30 parting or impress roller which transmits the the Vertlcfll members C, D asby rive s or 1 1 1 to the @Ontaincn bolts as are also the intermediate members A further essential feature embodied in F, G, Whilst the member E is extend d the invention is the zoning of the wells in l W h m mber B and adapted to carry the inking or colour pad cylinder so as to he r0l1er H which moves in a bath of provide for multicolours and shading of the 60 0111 I. labels on the container. In frictional contact with the roller H A further essential feature consists in the is a roller J which is carried in depending use of fiat colour imparting pads adapted to legs as K secured to the lower member B,

be pressed to the surface of the container wheels L, M being fitted to the spindles 40 and these pads may also be zoned for of the rollers H and J respectively, a belt the purpose of imparting multicolours and N passing crosswise between said wheels. shading to the labels on the container. Disposed above the roller His a roller 0 It will be understood that according to in frictional contact with the roller H, and this invention the colouring or colourings mounted to the vertical leg C is a roller P 45 may be imparted to the container to form in horizontal line with a roller Q, a belt R directly thereon labels of any design and passing about and between said rollers. colour. by contact or pressure, or rotating The spindle of the roller J carries a mechanism'but in order to show. one practisprocket M which receives a chain from a cal form of carrying the invention into effect sprocket M on the spindle of the roller P. 50 it will now be described with reference to The belt R moves over a grooved board S the accompanying drawings in which zwhilst guides S are arranged to guide the Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, and containers over said belt R, jockey pulleys Figure 2 is a view in plan of an apparatus R B being adjustably mounted to take up employing rotary cylinders for imparting any slack in the belt R.

5. ,the labels directly on to the container after The colour is contained in the tank I and liq is picked up by the roller H, all surplus colour being removed by the roller J, the colour then passing to the belt R.

The containers T are fed to the belt R by means of a ramp U, said containers turning over the belt R and between it and adjustable and flexible uides V held by means of bolts V to lugs 2 on the sides of the members C, E, F, G,-D.

After passing through the machine above described the coloured containers are delivered to an inclined guideway W where they are transferred to the labeling machine.

After leaving the lacquering machine above described the containers are passed to the labeling machine which consists of a frame 5 provided with spaced longitudinal supports 6, "F'carried on the legs 8 and at the rear end of this machine is a ramp 9 feeding containers 10 by gravity to holding and 1e leasing mechanismas hereinafter described.

Adjustably disposed between the longitudinal members 6, 7 are sets of bearings 11, 12, 13, 14 which are adapted to receive the spindle 15 of inking roller 15 distributing roller 16 of tacky substance such as gelatine,

the impress roller 17 and the spindles 18, 19

of the holding and release mechanism respcctively.

More than one distributing roller 16 may be mounted in horizontal line if so desired 6 7 between the inking roller 15 and the impress roller 17.

The inking roller 15'is adjustably held in b its horizontal position by means of set screws 20, the ends of which impinge against the bearings 11 thereof.

(lo-axial with the rollers 15, 16, 17 and holding and release mechanism arc toothed wheels 21, 22, 23, 24 which mesh with each other, all toothed wheels being of the same size whilst the spindle 15 of the inking roller 15 is extended to accommodate an operating handle 25.

The bearings described are retained in position by means of bolts 26 which pass through the longitudinal members 6, 7 and through the bearings 11, 12, 13, 14 and if desired the upper longitudinal member 6 may be composed of short sections over each bearing 11, 12, 13, 14 which considerably facilitates the removal of any or all of the rollers.

As previously explained the primary roller 15 is the one which carries the particular design and colour arrangement which may comprise all one colour or selected parts may be distinctively accentuated by the cho a of colour to be determined by the class 0" is to be placed in the container or alhe container as in the case of labeling a er the goods are canned or otherwise lers 15, 16, 17 are retained in their llSllllOIlS on the spindles by protons-is 26 thereon, whilst a portion of the length of said. spindles is threaded as at 27, nuts 28 being ers 15, 16, 17 from movement.

The container holding and release mecha-' nism comprises opposed discs 2930 mounted upon spindles 1819 which are mounted in bearings 14 slidably held between the longitudinal supports 6, 7 of the frame 5.

Arranged on the spindles 18, 19 are collars 31, 32 bifurcated lever members 33, 34 passing therebetween.

The spindle 19 of the holding and release mechanism carries the one of a train of toothed wheels already described, whilst disposed about the spindles 18, 19 and disposed within 'a recess 35 are springs 36 adapted to normally retain the flanges 29, 30 in the operative position.

Connecting the upper ends of the fork members 33, 34 are short links 37, 38, the link 7 being pivotally connected to the end 41' of a lever arm 42 provided with a vertically rising handle 43, the link 38 pivotally connecting the lever arm 42 as shown at 44, the said lever arm being itself pivoted as at 45, to a transverse bar 46 secured to the longitudinal members 6, 7 of the frame.

The bearings 14 of the holding and release mechanism above described are slidably held in position between the longitudinal members and connecting rods47 which move in guides 48'between the longitudinal members 6, 7 the said rods 47 eing screwed for portion of their length as at 48" to receive a nut 49 and lock nut 50 as shown which is adapted to limit the ovement of the bearin s 14 in the forward direction a spring 51 rods 47 to normally kee leasing discs 29, 30 in t e operative position. cans are also provided for shifting the holding and releasing mechanism above described, rearwardly in order to permit a branded container being released and a fresh container placed between the flanges 29, 30. The means for accomplishing this operation comprisean extending handle 52 which is pivoted at 53 the handle being also pivoted adapted to hold the rolli the said bearings are eing disposed'about the the holding and r on a transverse bar 56.

The container is held between the discs 29, 30 during the branding operation and immediately same is completed the container is released and drops into the curved'plate 57 which is hinged at 58 to enable the holding portion to drop downwardly and release the tin which drops on to the ramp 59 to run by gravity to any convenient place.

s previously describedv the primary roller 15 carries the particular band to be ultimately imparted to the container as 15 shown in dotted lines, Figure 1 and in order to render the brandin portion of said roller constantly operable, dye or colour wells 15 are received in the said roller and will take impart the colour i in rollers 16, 17 rotate vations necessary e of the brand, and as the brand may be bui t up of various devices, symbols and the like, the parts constituting the finished or complete brand may be of any suitable number of colours accor ing to the taste of the packer and the goods packed, and the dye or colour wells 15 to the or rollers 16 by means of the absorbent surfaces 16 covering the wells and the wells may be refilled through flexible ipes 16 from su ply tanks 16, the tank out ets being a shape according to the sha fitted with a valve 16.

The dye or colour wells may be of metal and received in the surface of the roller 15 so as to present the actual contacting surface thereof to the distributing roller 16 which is of resilient material as gelatine, or gelatinous material in combination with other materials of a like nature to form a tacky composition.

The description herein refers more particularly to a hand or manually operated machine and I will now describe the operto brand a container an deliver same to any convenient place.

The container as 15 shown by dotted lines, Fig. 1, is held between the discs 29, the raised portion 29 and 30 thereof entering the bottom of the container and fitting neatly within the annular rim of said container.

Prior to fitting the container between the discs 29, 30 however, thesame are sprea and forced forwardly by the operation of the levers 4e2 and 52 respectively and once the container is in position the discs 29, 30 are permitted to come hold the container after which the container and holding mechanism is permitted to move forwardly by the springs at the same time the toothed wheel 24 is caused to engage with the toothed wheel 23.

The operating handle 25 is automatically set at the required starting position means of a ball 25* under spring contro which is adapted to enter a recess 25" in the frame 5, the object of this arrangement being to definitely determine the correct starting position of the rollers.

Upon the rotation of the handle 25' the by means of the train of gears 21, 22, 23, 24 the dye from the primary roller 15 being transferred to the distributing roller 16 which passes the brand on to the impress roller 17 which then 7 passes the brand on to the container in firm- (ill tional contact therewith.

\Vhen the branding operation has been completed the discs 29, 30 and parts are moved forwardly clear of the impress roller 17 by means of the lever 52, in order to prevent any injur to the wet brand upon the container, an when said container is clear of the roller 17 the discs are spread distributing roller together and thus 1 spindles 18-19 carr 29-30 and the rollers 15",

by the lever 42 allowing the container to dro on to the curved plate 57 and thence to t e ramp to run by. gravity .to any con-' venient place.

If, desired the label may be divided centrally as at 57 the upper portion 57" of the label bein in one colour and the lower ortion 57 0 another,

eing in multicolours which will eventually blend thus adding considerable appearancev thereto. i

The partitions 57" are preferabl at their abutting edges tapered so as to ring the adjacent impression of the colours as near as possible to each other to allow blending thereof to form shading.

In the herein described apparatus rollers 15, 16 and 17 are used, being the primary, distributor and impress rollers respectively, but if desired the distributor roller 16 may be dispensed with and the label pattern from the roller 15" directly transferred to the impress roller 17 from where it is transferred to the container held between the 1 discs 29-30.

62 held in bracket bearings 63-434 attached to a convenient osition on the frame 5, the bearings 64 having an extension 65 thereon which carries rollers 66 therein the use of. which will be hereinafter described.

The spindles 62 have on one end cams 67 which are adapted to engage, at the reuired time period,

ing the discs 29-30 and art in order to move them outwar ly or a e branding oprelease the container after t oration has been performed.

P'ivotally mounted below the opposed discs 29-30 are curved arms 69-70 on a spindle 71 held in any suitable way, the arms 69-7O being continued at the rear as at 72-73.

The containers are fed by gravity to the branding position i. e. between the opposed discs 29-30 by allowing them to pass down an inclined path 77 The operations are as The canlster is disposed follows: between the discs 16,17 constantly rotating, one complete revolution of the rollers 15", 16, 17 is sufiicient to impart the necessary brand to the container.

Upon the completion of one revolution,

the cams 68 ha e reached the maximum p051- the resultant label of the with cams 68 on the tion out of centre and by riding against the fixed rollers 66 the bearings carrying the spindles l819 together with 29-30 and burden are caused to slide away from the branding position and almost simultaneously the cams 67 have reached a position when the cams 68 are forced outwardly and the container released to rest u on the curved arms 6970, theweight of t e container being suflieient to cause the said arms to drop and pass the containers on to a gravity ramp where they may be directed to any necessary in order to prevent the convenient place.

Before the container can drop, however, a bar,78 has to be cleared from under the arm 69 or if des red one of said bars may also be disposed under the arm 70, this being incoming container from dropping on to the arms 6970 and on to the ramp before labeling or branding.

In order to remove the bar or bars 78 from under the arms 6970 a projecting member 79 is fixed to the spindle 18 carr ing the discs 30 and upon the rotation of tie spindle the member 79 meets the bar or bars 78 and removes them clear for a sufficient period to allow the branded container to drop through on to the gravity track when the arms 69-7O return and the bars 78 also by the action of the springs 80.

Means are also provided for preventing more than one container reaching the branding position at one time and consists in form- I ing the ends of the curved arms 69-70 in the manner shown at 76, the points 76 being adapted to pass between the containers when the arms 697O are downwardly disposed, as when delivering a container to the ramp, but when the arms 69. are in the operative position the points 7 6 are in line with the ramp 7? and the containers are permitted to run to the branding position.

I desire it to be understood that any suitable improvements and modifications may be embodied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the essential features of which are above described.

What I claim as my invention and to secure by Letters" Patent is:-

1. Apparatus for the purposes specified, comprising the combination of a printing roller for imparting colors or multicolors directly to a cam body or bottle, a primary roller, a distributing roller. said distributing roller receiving the color from the primary roller and delivering it to the printing roller, and the said printing roller carrying colour wells and the label pattern, the colour wells feeding the pattern of the label and being desire of the same area as the said label patterns.

2. Apparatus as and for specified in claim 1. characterized in that the primary roller is fitted with internal colour the discs 1 to automatically the purposes retaining Wells communicating with the label patterns of absorbent material on the surace of the said roller.

3. Apparatus as and for the specified in claim 1, characterized the primary roller is fitted with internal colour retaining wells, fixed reservoirs and flexible pipes communicating with the reservoirs forrcfilling said wells.

11 an apparatus for the purposes means for revolvably supporting the can or bottle at each end comprising two spaced and vertically arranged (lisCS, the spindles of which carry toothed pinions in mesh with pinions of labeling rollers the spindles ofsaid discs being mounted in bearings slida'bly mounted between the plates of the longitudinal members of the frame, springs disposed behind the said hearings to normally hold the discs in operative position, means for spreading the said discs apart comprising collars on the spindles of the discs spaced to receive the ends of bifurcated members, the upper end ofwhich pivotally connects links 7 gered positions, links connecting the above links at one end, said links engaging with a pivoted handle bar so that on the operation of said handle bar the said discsare spaced apart by one link forcing its respective disc in one direction and the other link forcing the other disc in the other direction and means for returning the said discs to the holding position comprising springs wound about portion of the spindles of the discs and also received in annular recesses formed in the bearings of for the purposes specified.

In an apparatus for the purposes specified in claim 4, means for withdrawing the can and bottle supporting discs and mechanism clear of the impress roller comprising a lever pivoted centrally of the apparatus and at the can receiving end thereof, said lever accommodating rods provided with nuts and lock nuts, said rods connecting the slidable bearings of the holding and releasing mechanism, springs disposed be tween the lugs of the lever and the slidable bearings so that when thrust is exerted on the said lever the slidable bearings are moved sufliciently to disengage the can or bottle from contact with a label impressing roller, the springs about the rods connecting the lever and slidable bearings being adapted return the discs to frictionally engage a can or bottle with the roller and also bring the toothed pinion on the spindle of the one disc into mesh with the pinion of the impress roller substantially as described.

6. Apparatus for the comprising, roller,

purposes purposes specified, an operating handle, an impress opposed spaced discs, means for movin th at arranged ,in staging said discs forwardly and spreading said discs apart, for receiving a'can or bottle between the discs, means allowing the discs to close in on the can or bottle, and means for moving the discs and burden towards said impress roller so that the can or bottle frictionally engages therewith, on rotating the operating handle for one complete revolution.

7. Apparatus for the purposes specified, characterized in that a color transmission roller or rollers is or are adapted to be rotated in a frame, means for supporting and carrying a can or bottleto frictional driving contact with said roller whereby a colored label is directly imparted to the can or bottle and means for releasing the labeled can or bottle, said means consistingol: two spaced disks supported from the frame and 20 adapted to be moved forwardly and rearwardly and to be pressed apart for the purposes specified.

8. In an ap aratus for the purpose specified, means or determining the startin position for labeling a' can or bottle an means for insuring the correct relationship between a train of fixed gears and a gear on a slidable spindle to which one of a pair of can or bottle holdingdisks are mounted, consisting in fitting an operating handle with a ball under spring control, said ball being adapted to enter a recess in the framework of the machine whenthe handle is in a vertically depending position at which time contact is made between the can or bottle and the label im ressing roller.

Si ned at A elaide, South Australia,

Austialia, .this 19th day of February, 1926.

WILLIAM CLIFTON HART. 

